Earl Norman

The Earl Norman books are becoming extremely rare, and publishers don’t seem to be interested in reprinting the series. The only way some of us may ever have all the stories is for collectors to scan and type the stories into PDF to swap with other collectors. I have already completed PDFs of HANG ME IN HONG KONG and KILL ME IN ROPPONGI. I am working on KILL ME IN YOKOSUKA. If other collectors would do the same for some of the other books, we could eventually have PDFs of all ten books. Why not help? I can be contacted at fadingshadows40@gmail.com

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Bangkok 8

Sanchai Jipecheap #1:
“Bangkok 8” by John Burdett. Bangkok detectives, Sanchai Jipecheap and Pichai
Aparidee are following a black American Marine, William Bradley under orders
from Colonel Vikorn, but they don’t know why. They lose track of the embassy
marine several times in the heavy Bangkok traffic, once when he picks up a girl
somewhere, and finally when they have to radio in asking for traffic to report
the position of the marine’s car when seen. They are soon notified that the car
has been reported stopped under a bridge, and proceed to that location.
Arriving, they watch a group of Khmer gangsters leave on motorcycles while
locals are gathered around the car. Inside, they see a huge python wrapped
around the marine’s neck, and there are blocks in the door, locking them shut.
Pichai shoots through the window killing the snake, and then works the door
open and pulls Bradley out. Unnoticed by the police detectives there are over a
dozen cobras also in the car, many within the sergeant’s clothing; one bites
Pichai in the eye. Sanchai shoots the rest of the snakes, but it’s already too
late for his partner. The girl is not in the car.

Wow.
If we could give more than a 5-Star rating, this book would easily get a 6-Star
review. Not only is the narrative and dialogue enjoyable, the writing is
excellent: smooth, tight, fast, and a page-turner. Bangkok is a city of
prostitutes and corrupt police; the main source of economy is the sex trade.
The author shows us the streets and bars, and seedy atmosphere of the city, yet
we never see a sex scene, and the profanity is few in this 431-page novel. The
mystery is topnotch, and the characters three-dimensional. There is some
violence, but again, it’s about the story, not the violence. For iexample,
Sanchai and FBI agent, Kimberly Jones attend a Muay Thai boxing tournament, but
arrive at the end of the bout. We do learn the real story behind Muay Thai
martial arts (not the regulated sport), which was very interesting.

Sanchai
and Pichai were the only incorruptible police in District 8, maybe all of
Bangkok, for that matter. With Pichai now dead, that leaves only Sanchai
unblemished. Sanchai is a half-breed, half Thai, half white-American: His
mother is a prostitute, and during the Vietnam War, American soldiers often
came to Bangkok for R&R. He never knew his father. They had married, and he
took her to the states, but his family did not approve of her, so she returned
to Thailand to raise her son, often living with other men, while Sanchai
learned the hard facts of life. But he feels a need to find the murderer of his
dear friend, and vows vengeance, sensing it favorable in Buddha’s teaching. But
he soon learns there is more to the case than even he can imagine, and it will
engulf Southeast Asia and America. This is a novel hard to put down, and
definitely a fun read.